Nuclear Disasters and ‘The Day After’

The 1983 TV film “The Day After,” viewed by some 100 million people, imagined a scenario in which America’s policy of nuclear deterrence fails. It depicts a nuclear attack through the experiences of Midwesterners – doctors, students, children, the pregnant and the engaged – followed by an extended (and, though grim, fairly unrealistic) consideration of post-blast repercussions.

Marsha Gordon remembers watching the controversial film as a junior high student. Now a professor of film studies at NC State, Gordon asks, “Is it time for a 21st century version of ‘The Day After’?”